I decided a couple of years into my early retirement that Bill Murray has it figured out when it comes to working once you’ve made it. So I adopted a Bill Murray approach to working in retirement. I’m now headed towards 10 years of this early retirement adventure and it has served me well. As my email and telephone are getting more hits with opportunity pitches lately, it reminds me that I’m living the dream. Even though I am enthusiastically open to retirement work (retire early and often), I’ve earned the right to dictate the how, what, where, and with whom, if at all.

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The Elements Of My Bill Murray Approach To Working In Retirement

Bill Murray is famously hard to reach. He bucks the entertainment system’s rules by refusing to have an agent. Instead he just has a toll free 1-800 number that goes directly to voicemail. Those who can get his number and call have 2 minutes to make their pitch. If he’s interested he will reply with a PO Box address to mail a script or other details to. Then you have to wait to hear back from him. There’s no schmoozing, stroking, or endless auditioning. No obligations, expectations, or pressures to jump into anything with anyone. He isn’t motivated by money and you never know if he’s in or out. That is until he lets you know one way or another. Nobody knows for sure whether he is retired or will ever retire which is also part of my working in retirement approach.

I’m kind of hard to find and reach

I haven’t had my resume posted online since late 2011, now over 7 years ago. I took it down when I decided that a Bill Murray approach to working in retirement was the way to go. Yet I still get opportunity pitches.

I stopped pursuing opportunities by way of an active online resume after I had gone through my opportunity bucket list of things that I wanted to learn and do. It’s now far more passive where I let recruiters find me through their contact referrals from past connections and my LinkedIn profile. I don’t famously have a 1-800# like Bill Murray. I’ve just kept the same landline phone number with an answering machine (so 1980s but great for screening calls) and the same email address for over 20 years. That means my old profile and resume contact info along with what ex-colleagues have is still valid. I actually scored my encore career by way of an unsolicited LinkedIn contact.

I still get a lot of pitches. Aside from my LinkedIn profile, they’re most likely from my resume having been picked up and stored in various employment databases during its short online visibility. That and from any of my conversations with recruiters long ago. Others are direct referrals and recommendations from ex-colleagues who pass on my name and contact info. I feel that by the time I’m contacted, I’ve been seen as a likely match for what the recruiter has to fill. It doesn’t bother me that some most likely have gone through all the easy low hanging fruit of active job searchers. If so, they’re now more likely willing to negotiate terms, not dictate them.

Good story and pitch – Clearing my first level working in retirement screening

They make their limited pitch and if they get my attention I may contact them. There has to be none of the triggers that turn me off and must have something there that makes me want to find out more about the opportunity. Otherwise it is ignored, unless it’s from someone I liked working with before. Then I will reply with a “no thank you at this time”.   

Peaked interest reply – Clearing my second level working in retirement screening

Many times there isn’t enough information shared in the pitch that’s aligned with what I consider interesting enough to engage. But if there is, I reply. I will ask for key missing details like what company, the location, the opportunity’s work scope, etc. Oh yes, the scope, exactly what it is they are looking for. I admit that I have boundary issues. They challenge today’s corporate world and limit what opportunities I will entertain.

They have to pass my what you see is what you get test – Clearing my third level working in retirement screening

Getting to this point means a lot had to be right to engage and accept interviewing. When I interview I offer no pretense or fluffery. Nor do I feel like I have to defend my employment gaps when asked. I refuse to let those gaps be represented as anything negative. Even though I am only at this interview stage because I am truly interested, I just deliver brutal honesty about what I know, did, and do. In my case I leave out any skills that I wish not to do anymore. I will also honestly tell them why I’m interested in the opportunity. All cards on the table. I don’t want to go into something where there is any misunderstanding nor put myself in a position I will regret.

If they balk or flinch then they failed the test. I enter into this phase knowing that even if everything goes well at this step, it doesn’t mean I will get an offer, nor that I will accept one. I’ve found it interesting that this step is often where I discover folks were misleading in regards to the scope breadth and therefore misrepresenting the opportunity, wasting both of our times.

Would I agree to do this if money was deemphasized? Clearing my fourth level working in retirement screening

Funny thing about financial independence and early retirement (FIRE), our relationship with money changes. What the opportunity pays does play a role, but it’s not an important part of the consideration to accept an offer. I ask myself if money was removed from the equation, would I do it for the fun, adventure, education, interesting project, or desired experience? There will need to be a yes somewhere in the answer. I can fake-it for money anywhere at anytime but don’t need to.

Trading my time for money isn’t a valid reason to accept a wrong opportunity that’s misaligned with what I want in life now. Our time is finite and I wish to not waste it. If I clear this final working in retirement screening step then I feel going in that it is as perfect of a fit as there can be. There should be no reason for regrets or misunderstandings with the employer/client or myself.

Missed opportunities? Sure, but so what…

My Bill Murray approach means I don’t get as many opportunities floated by me. But it also means I’m not wasting my time looking at every fart in the recruitment frying pan. A place where openings are shotgunned out to active online resumes whether they’re a decent fit or not. I prefer to let them find me in a limited fashion. Even then, very few pass the first 2 parts of my working in retirement screening.

I do believe there have been missed opportunities that would have been good fits. Even Bill Murray missed out on some awesome movie roles. That’s just the price of taking a picky approach to paid work and the projects, people, locations, companies, etc. to associate with. For myself, I see it as part of taking control of my time and life while at the same time limiting the amount of BS in it.  

Alright, what I do isn’t exactly what or how Bill Murray does it.

I’m no Bill Murray, not even close in talent, wealth, whit, or anything else. But his approach towards work inspired me to create my own limited contact and availability approach to working in retirement.

I did post my resume on job search portals after some months of celebrating my first early retirement. Sometimes I even proactively applied for online posted positions. I targeted opportunities that I had an interest and passion to pursue. It was 2010 and the employment situation was far different than it is today. Even as bad as the employment conditions were back then it worked for me. Those efforts continue to send working opportunities my way today, but….

Much of this is due to what I did in my previous life, Tech. It’s a certain kind of world. I’m sure there is a reason for how this works out as it does. There’s probably other career paths that work the same way.

My Bill Murray inspired approach does not just rely on recruiters finding me. If I was seriously interested in pursuing a new working adventure or project that I found out about, I would proactively reach out with my own efforts.

FIRE allows us to have a different mindset when it comes to paid work

After decades of our being conditioned to accept obligated labor to survive and be a productive member of society, FIRE allows us to flip the story. We get to exit that storyline and have the freedom to either participate in opportunities of choice or sit it out until the perfect storyline is presented. When we are in the story, we can be totally in the moment. We can then be a rewarded asset while at the same time enjoying what we are doing. If an accepted storyline takes an unfavorable turn then we can quickly exit on our terms. For me it starts with controlling how I make myself available to an employment world that believes it has all the power. FIRE allows me the freedom to happily challenge that belief.